The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording medium for use in thermal transfer recording devices such as thermal transfer recording printers or facsimile terminal equipment and particularly to a thermal transfer recording medium for forming printed images (such as letters and pictures) with metallic luster.
Heretofore there are known thermal transfer recording media of this type for forming printed images with metallic luster. For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 63-30288 discloses a thermal transfer recording medium of the structure comprising a foundation having on one side thereof a release layer, an anchor layer for metal deposition, a metal deposition layer and an adhesive layer in this order.
In the aforesaid prior art, a resin having a high molecular weight and a high glass transition point was generally used for the resin component of the anchor layer on which a metal is to be deposited in order to obtain a metal deposition layer with high metallic luster. The use of such a resin component gives a metal deposition layer with high metallic luster but causes the problem wherein the sharpness of printed images or transferability is degraded.
On the other hand, the use of a resin having a low glass transition point provides good transferability but cannot give a metal deposition layer with high metallic luster. Further, the luster of the metal deposition layer is markedly reduced due to the transfer thereof, resulting in failure to give a printed image with high metallic luster.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer recording medium which has superior transferability and is capable of forming a printed image with high metallic luster.
This and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description hereinafter.